Peyton Manning is a four-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl winner and future Hall of Famer who is about to play for his second team, the Denver Broncos. Ryan Leaf was arrested Monday for the second time in four days.

The recent updates with Manning and Leaf are the latest reminders of just how much their careers and lives have diverged since they were selected 1-2 in the 1998 NFL Draft. That's made it more difficult to remember there once was little separation between them.

Manning and Leaf entered the draft on the heels of stellar final college seasons. Their accolade-filled resumes were similar. They finished 2-3 in the Heisman Trophy race with Manning the runner-up behind Charles Woodson.

Their passing skills were hard to differentiate as they were being evaluated closely in the pre-draft process. Both were about the same size, at 6-5 and 230-plus pounds, and Leaf had the slight edge with his cannon arm. What advantage Manning had with his family pedigree and seasoning as a senior coming out of Tennessee, Leaf could compensate with his immense potential as a deep drop-back passer out of Washington State.

The difference became negligible to the point that the QB-needy San Diego Chargers — much like the Washington Redskins this year — traded up to No. 2 overall to ensure the selection of Manning or Leaf, whoever the Indianapolis Colts didn't pick.

When the Colts picked Manning and the Chargers took Leaf, it looked like a win-win. In long-distance hindsight, we know that's far from reality.

But would that past perception hold up if both were entering the draft as 22-year-olds today?

If the same Manning vs. Leaf debate was going on in 2012 — regardless of what we've come to know since April of 1998 — the board would look different. Manning's skill set would hold up as first-overall worth, but Leaf's attributes would make him more like the 2012 version of Ryan Mallett — the strong-armed, 6-7, 253-pounder whom the New England Patriots took in the third round last year.

In this year's draft, there seems to no "next Ryan Leaf" concern for the Colts or Redskins. The consensus top quarterback prospects — Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III — measure up as athletes and young men bound for professional success. There's already the feeling after the Colts presumably take Luck as Manning's successor, the Redskins won't have one ounce of Chargers-like regret when they snag Griffin.

In just 14 years, NFL offenses have changed to the point where it takes a cerebral, accurate passer with good footwork to handle the operation of a complicated, prolific passing game. Just having a big arm with big frame — like Leaf did — isn't enough to wow scouts or enamor teams.

With Luck and Griffin following last year's standout No. 1 pick Cam Newton and league MVP Aaron Rodgers by continuing to raise the athleticism bar for quarterbacks, the big, immobile drop-back dinosaur is in danger of becoming extinct. When the Oakland Raiders boldly went down the path in taking 6-6, 260-pound JaMarcus Russell No. 1 just five years ago, it was a disaster of Jurassic Park proportions.

Forget the off-field circumstances that have been tied to Russell and Leaf as they've been considered 1-2 among the biggest quarterback draft busts of all-time. What happened to them on the field during their short careers has developed into the more important cautionary tales.

The strong throwing arm has been redefined by how well someone passes while on the move. Overwhelming size doesn't matter much unless you can bring Newton or Ben Roethlisberger-like mobility with it. Manning and his brother Eli aren't scramblers, but they now how to slide their feet, avoid the rush and buy time to make the big play with their arms.

When you look at the drafts after 2007 and the first two quarterbacks selected in each, it's like this: Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco, Matthew Stafford and Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow, Cam Newton and Blaine Gabbert. Five of those men of been the playoffs, and three have been rookies of the year.

With all due respect to those combinations, Luck and Griffin are combining to look like the 1-2 to trump all the rest with their individual and team laurels.

Fourteen years ago, the question was Manning or Leaf? This year, the answer is Luck and Griffin.